3,000
This is the number of advertisements the average American is exposed to per day. Marketing is in its golden age, churning billions of dollars through world markets in an effort to grab consumer attention.

10.5 billion
This is the amount of money that tobacco companies spend annually on marketing and product placement. 2011 marked the first year since 2003 that tobacco companies have increased marketing expenditures, pumping 90% of these funds into promotion and product placement in convenience stores, gas stations and other retail outlets.

2/3
It is reported that over two-thirds of teenagers now visit a convenience store or gas station at least once a week. With tobacco products being the only lawful products proven to kill when used as intended, a steady stream of replacement smokers is needed by cigarette companies to offset the 5 million people that die each year from tobacco use.

The Master’s Settlement Agreementwas a huge victory in the fight against big tobacco, giving anti-tobacco organizations across the country help as they go head to head with the billion dollar tobacco companies. But this money is beginning to run out and states everywhere are struggling to keep their funding from the Master’s Settlement Agreement committed to anti-tobacco programs and initiatives.

A lack of resourceshas forced campaigns and organizations to become more creative in their counter-marketing strategies. Many initiatives are now geared towards educating youth and bringing about a youth movement against big tobacco.

18%In 2011 over 18 percent of high school students nationwide were smoking some form of tobacco, a percentage that almost exactly mirrors the adult smoking rate of 19 percent. Even with government legislation in place, today’s youth continue to fall victim to an addiction that current adult smokers struggle to break.